Inspection Detail

Inspection: 1552780.015 - The Threat Management Group, Llc

Inspection Information - Office: Mobile Area Office

Investigation Summary

At 9:30 a.m. on September 10, 2021, an employee and a coworker, both medics working for an ambulance service, were standing by a military explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) training operation. The ambulance crew was situated at a safe location while the Navy EOD instructors trained students with live detonation of ordinance. The crew was positioned adjacent to the operation control bunker (OCB) waiting for the instructors and students to arrive. The instructors and students would set up charges before moving to a safe location just prior to the detonation. The employee had picked up some frag/shrapnel as he walked around the area and after repositioning the ambulance to a safe location behind the OCB. After the instructors and students arrived, the employee got out of the ambulance with a piece of shrapnel and another unknown object. After positioning himself alongside his coworker and one of the five instructors behind the OCB, he handed the unknown object to the instructor next to him. The instructor looked at it and handed it back to the employee stating that he did not know what it was. The object turned out to be unexploded ordinance (UXO). As the employee lowered his arm to his side, the UXO detonated. The employee was hospitalized to treat the loss of his left hand. Several fingers on his right hand were amputated.

Keywords: Amputated, Amputation, Exploded, Explosion, Explosives, Finger, Hand, Instantaneous amputation, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Partial Amputation, Shrapnel, Surgical Amputation, Training, Traumatic Amputation